My Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Christmas

Its getting closer, Christmas is just around the corner.

I thought I would try and capture some of the festive spirit and put some decorations up around the house. Unfortunately, all of our Christmas decorations, including the tree, are stowed away down the South Coast. So rather than going out and buying more bits of stuff to decorate the house, I have adopted a reduce, reuse, recycle, non-commercial, approach to christmas decorating.

With the help of Pinterest I have started making some decorations to put onto our very rustic tree, (which I found on the ground out the front of our house after a particularly windy day!). So I gathered up the dead branch, put it into a galvanised bucket and started making some decorations to try and capture the Christmas feel.

So far, I think I have been successful. It is certainly a different type of Christmas tree, but it is unique, frugal, environmentally friendly and.................we like it!

I also decided to make a wreath for the front door and with the fantastic instructions provided by the red thread, I made this wreath out of old gift bags and it sits quite nicely on our red front door.

Here are a few pics of my hand made creations - have you made any decorations this Christmas? If so, I would love to see them.

Happy creating!

A day to play

Finally, finally I had some time today to get out my art journal and play. It has been quite a few weeks since I have had time, what with settling into a new job and the trip to Singapore, my feet have not had much time to touch the ground, and my paints have not found their way to paper!

Something that helped was the purchase today of a few vintage stamps from a new vintage store that opened up in my town, Springwood. I was so pleased with my purchase, it was all I needed to get me going again.

So here are a few pages that have me back on track...........

Thanks for stopping by x

Weekend at Wallys

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.......I was blessed this weekend, my daughter, her husband, my other daughter and my son all came up to spend the weekend. It was so lovely to have some time all together. As we are usually all spread across the country, it was so great to have the time to just chill out and enjoy each other's company.

We went out to dinner on Friday night to The Union, a Tapas restaurant at Penrith, which was great - you are always guaranteed tasty food. We then spend Saturday relaxing out on the deck in the beautiful sunshine....the weather was perfect.

Jac and I took a short trip into Springwood, where Jac, (in her 'Where's Wally' clothes) decided to pick up a special fella!

Then Jodie and Max had a snooze and we had lots of great food and drink - a great weekend! Hope yours was good too. xxxx

Life can be surreal

On Sunday at 12:00pm I was sitting on top of the world at the Marina Bay Sands building in Singapore, enjoying a beautiful meal, taking in the spectacular view........the same time the next day I was caught in the 'commuter crush' in Sydney as I had a break for lunch from my new job in the City.


It was a bit of a culture shift both from the aspect of one city to the next, but also from the workplace perspective. The organisational culture where I work in my new role is vastly different from my old job. It will take some getting used to!

This was where we had lunch - in the 'ship' on top of the Marina Bay Sands building which is  
194m (636 ft) tall.

This was the view from Marina Bay Sands - We thought the Singapore Flyer 'ferris wheel' was high at 42 stories high, with a total height of 165m (541 ft) - it is the tallest 'ferris wheel' in the world -  but it is dwarfed by MBS.

The 'Commuter Crush'!

Singapore Sling

Well here I am in Singapore. What an amazing country. The architecture is breathtaking as is the street scape, the food, the people.......and the shopping! I have really enjoyed my time here, a bit of work and a bit of play. My hosts epitomise hospitality and have taken the time to show us the best of Singapore. Here are a few pics of the many I have taken over the week.

The magnificent Marina Bay Sands

Sentosa Island from the Cable Car

Not sure what this building is...but I love the coloured windows.

Skypark - these 'trees' lit up to music. The lights around the tree are a walkway, so you can see how big they are!

Singapore's beautiful harbour with the new Marina Bay Sands building in the background

Singapore Harbour

Some purchases from a shopping trip. I actually found a shop that sold art supplies that I can use in my art journals. None of this stuff is available in Australia, you generally need to buy them online.
I must have spent hours in this one shop!

Gin Sling from Raffles - $26 plus taxes and surcharges!! The most expensive drink ever!

Calm before the storm

The new adventure begins! I have just left my job after 7 years and today I am off to Singapore, for a week, to enjoy a little rest and relaxation (and a little bit of work) with my friend Lesley. When I get back,  I start a demanding new role in a large organisation, that is sure to challenge me.

It was very sad to leave where I worked as the people there are very special. I made many close friends and although I know I will stay in contact with them, I will certainly miss seeing them on a daily basis.

I know my new challenge will certainly push me to my limits so I spent my weekend in refuge visiting my daughter's house down the south coast. I have come back ready to get started, looking forward to my week in Singapore and for the fast pace that I know will follow.

I am determined to keep up with my journalling, it will be so much more important for me now to help me keep my balance.

Here are a couple of pics I took at Jac's place, it was a great weekend and gave me some special time to get centred and ready.

Yes, No......Maybe

Uncertainty. For the past two months I have been living under a cloud of uncertainty. It's like a fog, you just can't seem to see through.  Sometimes there are small gaps of clarity when you can almost make a decision, but generally there it sits day in, day out in the background of every waking thought as well as   being there when you wake during the night, disturbing your sleep, there it is, the see-saw, the what ifs? the weighing up, yes, no, maybe.....

Well finally the fog has lifted, a decision has been made and I can move forward, can make plans, can see and celebrate the sunshine!

This journal page is inspired by my recent journey through indecision and uncertainty....and the celebration of definitely YES!

The fashionable mind

This journal page was inspired by a quote by Kennedy Fraser;
"I haven't got a thing to wear does not, of course, mean that we must resort to nakedness or seclusion; it means that our wardrobes contain nothing that might match our mood or offer a just reflection of our current lives". He also states that "Clothes have a life that is quite independent of their shape and colour". I find this is so true. My mood can change depending on what I wear - it amazes me how I can be influenced by this!

I thought to go along with this quote I would 'undress' my journal page and show you the progression I went through to get to the finished page. What do you think - are you willing to listen to the tale that the threads of your life have woven?

I stamped all over the page in my journal.

Applied some acrylic paint with a credit card.

Cut out flowers from magazines.

Selected my 'model' from a magazine.

Tore up bits of an old book and applied with gel medium

Found more bits to add, the hair is actually curtains from a magazine.